1. Field of the Invention
The present invention, relates to a magnifier and, more particularly, to a magnifier for a view box for magnifying X-ray films.
2. Description of the Related Art
The invention of the X-ray for medical examination is arguably the most important break-through in medical examination history. The X-ray is employed not only to ascertain the nature of the patient's malady but also to track the progress of the patient throughout treatment. The X-ray, thus, determines the initial diagnosis and the treatment of the patient. It is, therefore, critical that the X-ray be properly "read" in order to provide the correct diagnosis and eventual course of treatment.
The radiologist, who is a certified medical doctor, plays a key role in interpreting, e.g., "reading", X-rays because it is the radiologist's function to analyze the X-ray and report the diagnosis to the patient's physician. The radiologist's profession is not an easy one because reading X-rays requires a trained eye which can detect the difference between healthy and unhealthy tissue. This is compounded by the problem that tissues of varying types, such as muscle or organ tissues or tissues of varying densities, such as bone or brain tissues, affect the x-ray image. Another consideration is that the X-ray may have been over-exposed and the resulting image may be darker than is desirable. In addition, the details of the particular are of interest of the X-ray image is often times too small to analyze. Perhaps the largest burden of the radiologist, however, is the knowledge that the radiologist's X-ray reading may be the difference between life and death.
The view box 100 shown in FIG. 1A is a vital instrument to the radiologist in reading X-rays because it provides a lighted platform 102 upon which the radiologist places the X-ray film 104 and, by operation of switch 106, illuminates the X-ray film 104 for diagnosis. To provide uniformity of light, the view box employs a light source 110 which diffuse light well, white diffusing paint 112 and lighted platform 102 which further diffuses the light.
View boxes come in many varieties including those mounted on a permanent fixture or on portable stands. The view box may be a stationary view box in which the X-ray films are manually mounted/removed or a mass film motorized viewer in which the X-ray films are transported on a belt or "web" across the lighted platform. The view box may be embodied as a single unit which images single films as shown at FIG. 1A or a multiple unit as shown by the "two-in-one" unit of FIG. 1B which provides two lighted platforms 108a and 108b which are operated independently to image two different x-ray films.
A particular problem is that there are presently no means for quickly and easily magnifying the particular area of interest of the X-ray film. At present, the radiologist, in order to magnify the particular area, must resort to employing a hand-held magnifier such as an eye-piece. Problematically, such hand-held magnifiers have been found to be difficult to retrieve from a pocket and employ particularly when the doctor is wearing surgical gloves. In addition, such magnifiers, due to their small size and portability, are subject to being misplaced. In addition, the hand-held magnifier typically does not provide sufficient magnification.
The only other option of the radiologist is to remove the X-ray film from the view box and manually place the particular area of interest under a standing magnifying lens. Problematically, this is not a viable solution because the radiologist must touch the X-ray film which may damage the film unit particularly if the radiologist is wearing surgical gloves. In addition, once the film unit is moved, there is no guarantee that the radiologist will be able to reacquire the clarity of the X-ray image especially when another doctor changes the settings on the view box.
Heretofore, there has been no means by which the radiologist can quickly and sufficiently magnify a particular area of the X-ray film.